95 BUICK PA NA SOUND FROM LEFT FRONT WHEEL

[gmman]

what is most likely cause of sound from left front wheel that resembles a growl or mud grip tire. have changed wheel bearing hub and bearing. also replaced tire. same sound. 95 BUICK PA NA.

[95naSTA]

Is the wheel bearing a cheap replacement and you torque the axle nut down to spec?

Is there play in the wheel with it in the air and is there a lot of play between wheel rotation and when the axle turns at the trans?

[gmman]

the wheel hub assembly with bearing is TIMKEN. I did torque the axle nut to specs. 1 have not checked for play in the wheel nor play between wheel and axle but will do so. assuming none of those symptons, which is more likely, axle or transmission. i have read that most likely proble with axle is clicking sound when making turn. i have not noticed clicking. so i am concerned the sound may be from transmission. more thoughts?

[95naSTA]

I'm on the same page. If it's speed dependent it's either brakes, wheel, wheel bearing, axle, or transmission.

Assuming there's nothing else wrong with the brakes, there's a small chance that the outside of the rotor and the caliper/bracket are making contact from years of rust.

[gmman]

update. checked left front tire for play horizontally and vertically. I don't detect any. also checked tire and axle rotation. seem to be no play there either. I think next move will be to get transmission specialist opinion if bearing may be bad.

what still bothers me, I looked on YOU TUBE to see if there were similar problems. there was one video of actual sound as car was speeding up and it sounded exactly like the growl I am hearing. it was under a category of wheel bearing failure. I suppose it is possible that the Timken bearing/hub assy is bad but what are the odds that the new bearing sound is exactly like the original. so guess is will get transmission specialist opinion and if negative, I will order another bearing. will report sometime in the future what the problem turned out to be. thanks for your help.

[harofreak00]

Wheel bearings can sometimes be tricky to determine what side is bad. You are talking entirely about the left front, have you looked into the right front? I always replace wheel bearings in pairs because if one side failed, the other is probably on its way out.

[gmman]

I apologize for the time elapsed since my last post and for not seeing haro's post until now (4/27/29). the significance of haro's revelation is I would not ever, ever have thought to check the right front. i was just hard headed sure the noise was coming from left front. will post back with results.